Twin Destinies
by Annie Oakley
Summary: Raina is a little assassin, and when she gets Chosen, her older brother does also. She's not the youngest one Chosen, but she sure is the strangest, and no one at Collegium knows what to make of her, but she seems to be Alberich's favorite Trainee...
1. Default Chapter

Twin Destinies  
  
Disclaimer: I own all of the non Mercedes Lackey created characters. The 'Arrows' people do not belong to me, they belong to Lackey.  
  
Chapter 1  
  
" Raina, hit me harder!" Lauren urged, stabbing at the air around his student as the small girl moved lithely out of the way and let her own practice blade waver.  
She just stood there, head tipped to the side as if listening to something. Her bright green sparkled as they did when she knew something the others did not. " Someone is on the road." She took a large step backwards. " Two someones."  
Lauren put down his sword and also listened. There was a sound that was familiar to him, but he wasn't sure. Bending and picking up the scattered gear they had flung about the ring in their lazy practice, his stomach squeezed in fear. He knew the sounds of the hoofbeats, clear and pure as silver bells, even on the packed dirt road.  
Companions.  
" Run and tell Mama we've got visitors." Lauren said, standing and walked to the gear shed, putting everything in its rightful place more meticulous than he usually did.  
Raina ran willingly. Out in the backfields of Valdemar they didn't get many visitors, only their clients returning the goods. It was their business and they were good at it, and they had few disturbances. Life was good sometimes.  
  
" Mama! Mama!" Raina jumped up and down, tugging at the sleeve of her mother's red tunic.  
Usually the young girl of nine summers was solemn and serious, but the anticipation of visitors excited her greatly. Marie Ravensmorn was tired, and even though she loved all her children, she did not want to deal with them right at that moment.  
" We have visitors!" Raina squealed joyously and Marie looked sharply down at her daughter.  
" It is only one of them men, Raina, calm down." She frowned. Looking at Raina's tangled blond hair with disdain.  
" She is right Mother." Lauren said from the doorway, as tired and dusty as Raina, but without the obvious pleasure of new people coming. " Not just visitors, but Companions in full gear and no riders in sight."  
Marie did not have to use her assassin honed instincts to know what that meant. It was not an unfamiliar occurance anymore, not since Kora had left proudly on her own white symbol of Valdemar.  
" There will be a Choosing!" Boomed Callion, Raina's and Lauren's father, as blond as any of them; but out of all of his children, only Raina shared his green eyes.  
" Who would have thought?" Callion threw Raina up into the air as they both laughed the same loud laugh, only one was deep and rough and the other was high and bell-tone clear.  
Lauren looked away jealously. It had been near thirteen years since his father had laughed with him like that. He missed it.  
  
: Alver!: The stallion heard the frantic voice in his head. :Stop!:  
He started to slow down, not wanting to stop instantly and let himself pant and wheeze for a few minutes, then realized he was exhausted. He was glad his Shora had made him finally see his own needs for once in his hurry.  
: Thanks, sister-mine. I should have been paying attention.:  
The smaller Companion moved up to his side, nudging his head down and lightly lipping at his ear. : It's always me that has to watch out for you, isn't it?: She scolded lightly, but he felt the smile in her words.  
: Always and forever.: He said, putting his head under Shora's chin for a moment, a thing he used to do when he was a foal and unusually nervous.  
: What if she doesn't like me? We've never been out this far before, her people might not want their child to be a Herald.: Alver started to rant, but caught himself and his mind colored with a mental blush.  
: You know, in the beginning, I came to help you and make sure that nothing happened to you. But now,: She lifted her head and stood tall, regal and shining in the last sunlight. : Now I think there is someone who needs me, someone who needs me to choose them.:  
Alver snorted. : As long as there are no long side trips.: He teased playfully.  
Shora bit his rump, causing him to squeal and mock charge her. : We were lost! It was your fault anyway, wanting some honey root and eating things until you found it. Remember the horrible stomach pains you had afterwards?:  
Alver merely laughed in her mind and they started off again. 


	2. 2

Twin Destinies  
  
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.  
  
Chapter 2  
  
Raina rose with the sun, taking a short cold bath in the lake and sitting in the rising dawn, meticulously combing and braiding the wealth of long golden hair she had.  
But no, Mama says I have to be a lady. ' Not even lady assassins get to cut their hair.' Mama say, ' And you are most definitely an assassin lady.'. She thought as she painfully ripped another knot out of her hair.  
She'd waited all night for the Companions to come storming in through the gates, but they hadn't come yet. Even in the hours it had taken her to get up and go to the lake to bathe, they still hadn't come. As she walked back into the large manor to put on her good dress, she wondered if they would even come at all.  
  
: What are you waiting for?: Shora asked Alver, the both of them crouched as well as any Companion could in the bushes. : It is her, I can tell. She looks the same as in my Vision.:  
Alver shook his head, making sure to take care of the bells catching on the leaves and small branches surrounding them. : We already know that the blond hair breeds true in the family, so who is to say that there is not another little girl running around?:  
: Alver.: Shora whined. : Just get over yourself and do it!:  
Shora is right. He thought ti himself, getting to his hooves and ready to step out of the bushes. I shouldn't worry.  
  
: Raina Ravensmorn?:  
Raina whirled around, her braid smacking her in the face and her eyes widening.  
" Um, yes?" She called into the slowly warming morning.  
: My name is Alver, and I Choose You.: A flood of love and warmth ran into her heart, stretching it to its fullest and yet never breaking the bounds. She floated in the feeling, dazed and calmed somehow.  
The large stallion stepped out of the bushes and he was a sight to see. He was taller at the shoulder than herself, his silver and white mane longer than her own hair, and one large blue eye blinked at her slowly, beckoning to her.  
Raina threw down her brush and ran to him with a wordless sound of joy. The little girl flung her arms around him and he fell to his knees so she could climb up as her joy relayed to him threefold. Balanced on his shoulders, she laid her head on the top of his neck, surrounding it with her strong little arms. Alver Felt her relief and joy as if it were his own.  
Raina felt she should have cried with happiness, as her mother sometimes did, but was to overwhelmed to do anything but simply be happy.  
  
" Mama, I have someone to introduce you to." Raina appeared at her mothers door, her hair neatly plaited and her black trousers, boots, and red tunic impeccable.  
" Our visitor perhaps? Is it a Herald?" Marie asked, throwing the rope of her golden hair over her shoulder in a gesture that her daughter often mimicked without thinking.  
She stood up and brushed off her own black skirt. Marie was nervous. She wondered if the Companion's truly did have a Herald, and just needed their services. She would gladly give up her children if it meant that they would not have to suffer the same fate as some of their cousins and aunts and uncles.  
" Alver, if you would?" Raina asked someone, and there was the slight sounds of dainty hoofbeats that rang like bells, then the door was pushed open by a large white horse. " Mother, I have been Chosen." Raina said proudly; gone from her voice was the childish purr, now replaced by something more adult, more mature.  
" Raina, I don't know how you managed to do it, but you did! Oh, you did." Marie swept her daughter into a loving embrace, and since Raina did not get many of these from her mother, she knew not what to do!  
: Wrap your arms around her and hug her as hard as you can.: Alver said gently.  
Raina did as he said, and to her suprise, her mother started crying. " I didn't want to let you go, but I don't want you to stay here and die like the rest of the family! I couldn't stand it!"  
Raina patted her mother on the back and echoed Alver's words at her. " I think it best that I go to Haven as soon as possible." She detached herself from her mother and left the room, crying her heart out and begging her child not to die like the rest of them.  
  
Lauren looked outside, saw the Companion standing in the training ring. He knew she was waiting for Raina, and he could do nothing about it. He rubbed a fist over his eye and yawned, regretting the drinks he'd had to put himself to sleep last night. Even after he had gotten to sleep, Kora's scent and sweet voice echoing through his head. He wished she had come to see them, even after she had become a Herald. He knew they were allowed to go home on hoildays, but Kora and her Companion had never tromped up that dirt road, not once since she had left.  
: I know the one you grieve over.: Came a soft voice in his head, and he thought that the hangover he had was worse than he had guessed, but he sobered up instantly when it came again. : Your pain is my pain, your love, my own. If you'll have me, I'll Choose you.:  
Suddenly a white blue light filled everything in and around him and he felt like he was floating. Now he knew why Kora had left him, her love for her Companion and duty and other things kept her away from the man she had loved, and in his wonder, he forgave her. He forgave her because he knew that all those years ago, she had felt what he was feeling now, and he would never condemn someone for this, this joy, this glee, this love.  
He cried out with his whole being. One single word that meant the world to the both of them. :YES!:  
  
Raina found her older brother, hoping that he wouldn'y cry if she told him she was leaving that day. Her father and the rest of the staff knew, they wished her all the luck, and she had readied her pack and things, loaded them on Alver, and then went to seek Lauren. She didn't want to tell him goodbye, but there was no choice.  
" Lauren, I have to go now, Mothers all in a sorts and Father is trying to calm her, but nothing helps. I think you should try." She said, hugging him from behind.  
He turned around with a wide grin on his face. " Why should I tell her that she's losing another child?" He stepped aside and there in her veiw now, was a Companion, thinner and more graceful than Alver, and with a slight curl in her forelocks. She was shorter, but there was a sense of age to her.  
" Alver, is that-?" Raina started, and Alver nodded his head.  
: My sister. Not that I knew she had this planned.: He snorted and Raina giggled as he knelt and let her on.  
: I did not plan on anything! I came along to make sure your rump stayed out of trouble. It's not my fault that my Chosen decided to be in the same place as yours!: Shora retorted, nipping him on the behind as they set down the packed dirt road.  
" They sound like us Raina, funny, is it not?" Lauren asked, hugging her from Shora's back, and then kissing her forehead brotherly.  
: Not!: Came the two annoyed Companion voices.  
Lauren and Raina shared a fit of giggles as they rode into the sunset, leaving the only home they had ever known. Lauren didn't plan on ever coming back, and Raina didn't know what she planned, but she knew it was coming soon. 


	3. 3

Twin Destinies  
  
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Raina always rose with the dawn now, wondering what her family was doing without her and Lauren around. " Mama always said she wanted a big family," She said to Alver, who was laying down behind her, a backrest for her. " But will she have anymore children now? I mean, they keep going away."  
Lauren woke to her musing and just lay there, listening to her talk to herself as the sun rose, spreading rays of light everywhere, and every single one of them seemed to be bent on reaching his eyes and waking him completely. He wondered when his little sister had gotten so wise, wondered why she knew about things that he hadn't learned of until he was in his late teens. He wondered that if he had gotten the same training, then why wasn't he like that? So thoughtful and wise, and yet still so young?  
: We can't all be like that Lauren. Sometimes it just so happens that someone walks into your life that is like that, but you might never be.: Shora's voice laughed into his head. : Besides, I think I'm serious enough for us both. But Raina will have a lot on her hands, Alver's about as serious as a year old colt who wants a piece of sugar!:  
Lauren laughed silently with Shora and then just lay there, feeling her love flow down the line that connected them, filling him like a breath of warm air on a cold night. But there was something there, she could not give all her love to him, because there was someone else.  
: Who is it, Shora?: He asked silently.  
: Alver.: She didn't sound guilty, just unsure. : I was there when our mother birthed him and I was the first one that he saw. He didn't know it then, but he unintentionally completed the lifebond. I had seen it happen in a Vision, and I knew it would happen sooner or later, and to let him walk around most of his life with only half a self seemed too cruel, so I let him do it. He knows about it, and he thanks me for it often, but he has more love to give than me. I- I must limit it.:  
: Why?: Lauren asked, feeling the pain in their bond and wanting to stop it, make it feel better.  
: The one I loved once, with all my heart, he left me. He didn't mean to, but it was not a fault of anyone's but fate. He had to go get his Chosen, and by then, she was the only thing in his life that. He still talks to me, but I can no longer hear the love.: She hung her head and he got up, not bothering with telling Raina that he was awake, not that she had noticed; and went to his Companion.  
" How old are you Shora?" He asked quietly, knowing that Companions judged age differently than humans.  
: Seven years old. About late teens for humans, I would suppose.: She would have shrugged, but since she lacked the anatomy for it, she flicked a fly off her shoulder with her tail.  
" I'm not much older than you... But I can do my best to fill the gap that he left behind." Lauren said, making one of the promises he knew he would keep forever.  
Shora raised her head and looked into his own dark blue ones. : I would like that very much.:  
  
They were off by the next candlemark, having bathed and eaten. Raina gazed, this time not at the road ahead of her, or even Alver, but at her older brother. He looked like a god up there on Shora, his blond hair and blue eyes a great match for Shora's shining coat and sparkling sky blue eyes. She didn't know how she looked, riding Alver, but she knew that it must look odd, a child riding a Companion that was two feet taller than her at his shoulder. So she was short, she was a child, they were supposed to be short and small. Her mother often said that the only thing about her that wasn't small was her soul, her father jokingly said it was her green eyes. She agreed with both of them.  
" How much longer 'till we get to Haven?" She asked absently, finding the hoofbeats putting her to sleep.  
" About five days, and then another few hours before we get to the Collegium. It will be awhile, love." Lauren said, but Raina had a trick up her sleeve.  
" Not if we run." She said, and Alver reared up in the air, then shot off like a bolt of white and blue lightning.  
: He wants to run does he?: Lauren heard Shora say absently to herself. He twined the reins around his fists and held on for dear life.  
  
Over the next two hours, Lauren traveled farther away from home than he ever had in his entire life. He gloried in the feel of Shora underneath him, laboring to keep up with her brother, who was fleeter and had a little less wieght on him. Her muscles moved so smoothly, so easily. He only wished that he moved like that, so effortlessly. His assassin training had failed him in that, only giving him a headache and no few bruises over the years.  
: Our endurance and speed levels far surpass that of a regular horse. And you have noticd how smooth it is, our gait. If you wish to, and if you became tired enough, you could fall asleep in the saddle.: Shora informed him, the pair finally coming to a slowing point.  
" I've never ridden a horse in my life!" Lauren knew that he would be aching if he ever got off.  
Raina laughed at him, knowing full well why her brother had never ridden a horse. He'd been near trampled by one when he was smaller, another reason why his assassin training was never completed, his left ankle was slightly lame, but he bore it so well that hardly anyone noticed. She wondered why he was not afraid of the Companions as well then....  
: Because no matter what state a Companion was in, they would never harm an innocent human being. Especially not their Chosen, and I think that Lauren has known that for quite some time.: Alver said, his nose blowing in and out as he tried to catch his breath.  
" Lauren, there's a stream nearby, we should stop and eat something." Raina pointed behind some trees and sure enough he could hear the water running.  
He nodded and steered Shora to it, even though she didn't really need to be directed at all. He just wanted to get the hang of riding and she let him. After they had lunched and bathed themselves, they just sat there in the clearing, thinking.  
" It's going to get very hot later Lauren, we should sleep at day instead of night this time. Traveling at night is better anyway, makes us less obvious targets." Raina said, and pulled a few things out of her pack.  
  
She hung a sling and her dagger on her belt, as well as the bag of polished stones that she used for shots, and then buckled her sword harness on her back and drew it out of its waist sheath. She polished it for a minute, then deftly slid it into the back sheath. Lauren was amazed that she had even managed to fit her sword and its harness in her pack, but Raina was a master at hiding things. He had taken his own weopans, but saw no reason why he should arm himself now.  
" Why Raina?" Lauren asked, and shivered when Raina turned her face to look at him.  
" I heard wolves last night, one of them came up to the camp and sniffed around. But Alver scared him off." She said. " They weren't real wolves."  
" Changewolves." Lauren answered her thought.  
They had lost a sister to a pack of Changewolves. Out of nowhere they had appeared and Mira thought she could take them, but in the end she became their meal. She'd left the leader without an eye and a few more without a tail, but she had been killed. Raina was but three years old, and she had watched them devour her sister. Lauren had driven them off with a few firebombs, but it had been too late.  
" I want to ride by night, as fast and as long as Shora and Alver can go. I won't be caught by them, but if we are, I am fighting." Raina's voice was low and dangerous, something that registered as scary in a girl of nine summers.  
Lauren patted her shoulder and drew her into a hug, despite the sword poking him in the cheek. " I won't stop you." As they shared that moment, a howl went up far away and they both stiffened.  
" I think we should run now." Lauren whispered, and Raina nodded.  
They both leapt upon their Companions and were off and away. 


	4. 4

Twin Destinies  
  
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.  
  
Chapter 4  
  
" Raina! Your left flank!" Lauren shouted, knocking a wolf off of Shora's back, one that had set his sights on Lauren's head.  
The agile little girl-child swung her half-staff back and Lauren heard a sharp thump as it hit the Changewolf in the face and he tumbled away, still lying in the dust. He felt a surge of relief that Raina was so skilled, when he could only do so little damage and look out for Raina.  
: Don't cheer yet. There are four more in sight and the biggest one is hiding in the bushes ahead. Their trying to ambush us into the canyon.: Shora said, kicking in the side of another one as it tried to hamstring Alver. : Three.:  
He was glad that Raina had such sharp senses, because no longer than a half-mark after they had gotten wind of the pack of Changewolves did they attack. It could have been the same pack that had gotten their older sister, but everyone had their tails, and there was no sign of the big one that Mira had half-blinded.  
" Lauren!" Raina screamed, and he turned his head long enough to see Raina slip off the side of Alver and be pulled down by the smallest of the pack.  
Alver and Shora screamed together, Shora rearing and coming down on the head of one of the Wolves that got under her feet and Alver whipping around and barreling at the small Wolf that held Raina down. She went flying and hit a tree with a sickening crack of bones breaking. As Alver nosed at Raina, Lauren looked around and couldn't see the last one. He knew they hadn't killed it yet, but there was nothing in sight but them.  
: He's hiding with the leader. A few yards ahead is where they hide, but they are a little afraid of us. Raina's mean.: Shora said appreciatively as she trotted to Alver, trying to make it seem that they were okay and careless to the Wolves, hoping to draw them out.  
" I'm alright, Lauren. I shouldn't have been so clumsy though." Raina grinned as she stood up and mounted Alver again, wheeling him around and pointing him in the direction of the Wolves hiding place. " Let's go hunting."  
As Lauren followed her at a sedate pace, he noted that she had that glint in her eyes again, the cold and uncaring one that she'd had when she'd first mentioned the pack. No assassin he knew, not even his mother, who he had seen kill a man single handedly, could kill with that look in their eyes. He felt like he was loosing her already.  
He was so deeply immersed in her thoughts that he didn't notice the downswing of Raina's arm and the thud that the last wolf made as he fell. She was good, but not good enough to notice the very last wolf, the leader, slink out of the bushes and position itself to leap on Alver's back. She didn't, but Shora did.  
When the wolf leapt, Shora waited until she was close enough and bit down on the end of its tail, hard enough to yank it down. She danced back a little and by then its cries and yelps had alerted Alver. He lashed out with his hind legs and caught the wolf in the head. It fell and Raina leapt off of Alver, landing squarely by the wolf, which was quickly reverting back to his human form now that his magic was dying with him. She nudged him with her toe and he stirred, turning his face to her.  
" Humans are weak!" He spat, still defiant even in the face of death. He coughed and some blood landed on her boot.  
Raina looked down at her feet, wiping the blood off and looking at it on her hand. When she looked up at Lauren, she had tears in her eyes, her lips trembling as she fought to keep in sobs. " Their blood is red, Lauren." She said, her breath high and choked. " Like ours! Why do they have to be like us?" She fell to her knees and placed her hands on the man's forehead, crying and sobbing, taking great gulps of air as she keened highly.  
Lauren almost fell off of Shora when he realized that even as an assassin, she had never killed anyone. He knew she had seen people die, more often than not at the hands of her friends and family members, but she had never killed a person before. Animals were one thing; she never really got attached to animals, but people? Lauren wished that they had ridden off without a second look at the destruction they had just caused.  
" I'm sorry Raina." He didn't know what else to say, he had killed before, before his leg got hurt and he couldn't go out anymore. He was so lost.  
: Let Alver take care of this one.: Shora said, shifting her feet around. : Remember, your not the only one she can turn to anymore.:  
In any other situation, he would have taken offense at that, but now it just seemed so natural to let Alver do what he could. Maybe it was because he could do nothing himself.  
  
It was nightfall by the time that Alver got Raina under control long enough to get her mounted. They were close enough to the edge of the woods that they would be protected from anything the Companions couldn't handle, and there was a multitude of little streams here and there, so Raina wandered off with Alver and bathed for awhile, even though he could still hear faint sobs punctuating the silence.  
: Haven is about two more days away, if we don't sleep in too long in the mornings. And I think that Raina's idea of riding at night would be bad. There are worse things than Changewolves out during the night, we're better off sleeping.: Shora said, trying to break the uncomfortable feeling in the air.  
" You're right." Lauren admitted. " Besides, my night vision is about as good as a blind cats."  
He stroked the silky flank of Shora, who lay behind him, letting him use her as a pillow. Lauren was glad that Shora had Chosen him. He had been alone too long.  
  
" Why do they have to be so human?" Raina asked, wanting to cry some more, but she was too exhausted.  
She had finished her bath long ago, scrubbing over and over to get the feel of his blood off of her. Now she sat on a rock while Alver stood and she combed his tail. Her own hair was hanging down her back to her waist, damp and a little tangled, but curling in the cool night air since she had neglected to braid it. She didn't care anymore. That was what the old Raina did, the one that leapt through the obstacle course with an unpracticed ease, the one that forced boys into labored breathing because she had put them in a headlock, the one that had assassin training, but didn't want to be an assassin. She growled as she pushed a long handful of hair behind her ear, but it slid back out.  
" Alver, do you have any scissors?" She asked, and smiled at the look that Alver gave her over his shoulder, as if to ask her if she really thought that Companions carried scissors. She shrugged and dug around in her clothes pile. " I guess my knife will have to do then."  
: You're not seriously going to-: Alver winced as her knife sliced off an hunk of her hair. : I guess you are then.:  
Raina found the hair cutting process relaxing, and prolonged it, cutting off short and thin pieces here and there and then longer pieces, then matching the swing of the knife to a song she had learned once, the bawdy tale of Laird Bobbins.  
" Laird Bobbins," Swipe. " Never did learn how to get the ladies." Swipe. " So he took residence with the sheep." Swipe.  
Alver didn't know which one was more painful, the ruthless cutting of the hair or the butchering of his favorite song.  
  
It was near dawn when Raina returned to the campsite that they had chosen, an abandoned Waystation. Shora said it was abandoned, and they had found signs of forceful leavings, but neither Shora nor Alver knew who or what had broken the windows out and felled the tree by it. All they knew was that it was warm at night and cool during the day, which was all they needed. Lauren glared at Raina when she leapt through the window, landing an inch away from his head with a loud thump as she had intended.  
" Heyla!" She chirped brightly, leaning over him. " Alver says that we can make it to the outskirts of Haven tonight if Shora looses weight and runs faster."  
In the back of their heads they heard their Companion's jibe at each other, but it was all in good fun. Raina was finally having fun, and she wasn't in the horrible mood that she had been yesterday. For some reason, she was as if the thing had never happened at all.  
Lauren got up and since he was already dressed, he had no choice but to go out and see how Shora was doing. Not that he minded, but he had wanted to sleep a little more that morning.  
" Raina, what's that- Raina!" Lauren had finally caught sight of her hacked off hair.  
It was shorter than her shoulders, at least some pieces were. The rest of it was messy and jagged and, well, short! But in a way, it suited her, made her look less like she used to, and that alone lent a little bit of tender youth to her face. But it still alarmed him. " Do you know what you have done?"  
She looked at him like he was crazy. " I cut my hair."  
He shook his head and sighed, kneeling so his eyes were on level with hers, and he exerted some of the assassin skills that held their prey captive, though not as much as he would have on any other person. " When an assassin cuts their hair, it means that they rid themselves of the title of assassin. Until it grows out again, they cannot pursue that title again."  
Raina broke eye contact, she had always been good at resisting his gaze, and she smiled. " I didn't mean it in quite that way, but that's what I wanted. I don't want to be an assassin anymore, I want to be a Herald." Then she did a seemingly mindless thing.  
She kissed him in the forehead, then the cheek, then his chin, his other cheek, and his forehead again. It was what their mother used to do when they were young and had nightmares. It was her ring of protection, she said. Raina hugged him and walked out the door, not saying anything until he heard the ring of hooves and Raina's whoop if joy. " Come and get me!"  
Lauren groaned as he forced himself into a run and got to Shora, launching himself onto her and the both of them running off into the dawn 


	5. 5

Twin Destinies  
  
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.  
  
Chapter 5  
  
" Lauren, can you beleive it?" Raina sighed as she sat atop Alver, staring at the city through her rough bangs. " Haven. We're in Haven."  
" No' yet, little miss. Ye still hae tae git through me firs'!" A rough looking Guardsman stepped down from his post and brandished his trident at them, scowling.  
" Halton, is that you?" Raina asked, peering at the grizzled man closely.  
" An' who migh' you be?" He asked, squinting at her just as closely.  
" Raina and Lauren Ravensmorn. You used to work for my father a few years ago." Lauren answered, suddenly recognizing the man.  
He had given Raina her first real knife, even though it had been just a peice of metal that he had pounded into a sharp blade and glued to a handle that one of his own knives had broken off of. She loved it,and used it to the point that it had worn away, since the metal hadn't been all that good, but she still had the handle.  
" I can' belive me eyes!" Halton took his helmet off and his blue eyes were bright with happiness. " Th' day I lef' tha' assassin business was th' day I ne'er thought I'd see ye again, and here ye are! On those darned beast also. So ye've been Chosen."  
Raina smiled sweetly. " Of course Halton, Companions don't go around letting themselves get stolen, now do they?"  
Halton laughed and clapped a hand on Alver's shoulder. " You be careful 'round this 'un boyo, she's go' 'er mother's wit." Still laughing, he sent them on their way with chits that showed people that they needed to get to the Collegium as soon as possible, so a free inn at the night was in order, but Raina wanted to get there as quickly as possible, so they didn't take it.  
" You really thought of that?" Lauren asked, wnondering how much more mature Raina had gotten since being Chosen.  
" No, Alver said it and I just repeated it." Raina smiled, sucking on a peice of her hair.  
Now that it wasn't wieghed down, it was actually very curly and almost seemed as if it were lighter in color also, lending her a fresh faced quality that he had never noticed in her before. Whatever effect Alver had on her, it was a good one. He wondered if he was so very different.  
: You don't need to be different, Chosen.: Shora said, and he felt a rush of love and gratitude at the words. : I love you just the way you are.:  
Lauren felt that it should have been his mother saying that, and not his Companion, but it seemed so much more right coming from Shora. He couldn't see his mother saying anything like that to anyone, not even herself.  
  
" Could someone please open the gates?" Raina yelled, standing at the front of them and banging on the metal bars. " We need to get in!"  
: Let me try.: Alver offered, then he closed himself to Raina so her head wouldn't hurt after this.  
: Uncle Roland! We need in!:  
There was the sound of distant hooves and a large white figure came barreling up to them. The new Companion nosed the latch open and stood back, letting the gates swing open slowly. : Don't expect me to open the gate for you all the time. What if I had been doing something important?:  
His voice was stern, but there was a tone of love and family care underlying it. After all, Alver had called him Uncle.  
: Rolan, this is Raina and Lauren. Shora got Lauren a little earlier than was expected, is that a problem?: Alver asked, because Raina had been thinking the same thing, and even though she could hear Rolan, she didn't know if she could speak to him also.  
: It's not that much of a problem. Even though Shora went to make sure you stayed in line, it's a goos thing when any Companion finds their Chosen. I think it would have been rather cold to just get Raina and then come back for him a few years later, don't you agree?: Rolan had a point, and it was a good one.  
Lauren just stayed quiet, knowing that they were in a relay of sorts. He didn't mind, and it was comforting knowing that Raina was a good Mindspeaker, because he couldn't hear anyone but Raina and Shora, which probably meant he didn't have a very strong measure of it. He was glad though, because the stronger Gift you had, the more responsibility you gained, and he was just getting used to having Shora right now.  
Rolan left and Alver led them in, obviously telling Raina where they would need to go, since he and Shora needed a good rest and a hot mash before the night was over. She nodded and kissed his nose, then blew a kiss at Shora as Lauren got off. She was answered by a soft whinney and the sibling pairs went their ways.  
" He said we would need to go to the Queen's Own, since she was the only other one up this late tonight." She told Lauren as she led him into the large building.  
The training that he thought was long dead in him awoke and he found himself testing out the buildings with an assassins ears and eye, memorizing the doors and passages they passed and the smells that they encountered. Sounds were of no importance, but escape routes were.  
" This one right here." Raina said, knocking on it and waiting.  
The woman that opened it was not old as Lauren had expected, but young and lively. Not as young as he was, but maybe only a few years older than him. She had a tumble of chestnut brown hair framing a heart shaped face that held great brown eyes and a mouth that was in a line right now, not knowing whether to smile or frown at them.  
" Herald Talia?" Raina asked politly, clasping her hands behind her back and standing tall and proud.  
" Yes?" Talia asked, and she looked from Raina to Lauren worridly.  
" Herald Trainees Raina and Lauren Ravensmorn, reporting for stationing and duty, ma'am." Raina said happily, the official words disarming themselves merely by the sound of her childish voice.  
" You're the ones that Rolan had to let in, aren't you?" Her solemn face broke into a smile and she nodded. " I've sent a page to get rooms ready for you. Since tomorrow is a break day, I'll show you around then and get you ready to start the next day. Is that okay?"  
" It is more than okay." Lauren said, breaking into a smile himself. " I wouldn't expect you to show us around in the middle of the night."  
Talia laughed softly, due to the sleeping husband in her room. " Good, because I wouldn't." A tall boy appeared from around the corner and hurried over to them.  
" You're rooms are ready." He said, and Talia bid them goodnight, letting the page deal with them.  
He led them to their rooms, even though Raina ended up sleeping in his room with him because she was scared of such a new place. " Even though it's so wonderful, and what it represents is beautiful, its still not home and that's going to be a little scary for awhile." She said when he asked her what was wrong.  
Lauren nodded and wrapped her in his arms, feeling the different lengths of her hair spread over the pillow in a wave of silver washed gold. It all felt so right, being here. Shora was the best thing to happen to him, and he was glad that she had come when she had, or he might not have been there if she had waited. Lauren closed his eyes and heard something in the back of his head, a soft whispery voice, singing lullabyes to him, promising good dreams if he fell asleep. 


End file.
